The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors and more specifically to cavity-type header connectors for receiving female terminals.
Multiple cavity headers are conventionally used in automotive electronic circuitry construction for receiving and mounting female terminals, and wherein the header is mounted to a printed circuit board and the header receives mating male blades of an associated electrical module for thereby making electrical and mechanical connection of the module to the printed circuitry. Multiple cavity headers that are made in one piece conventionally require that the female terminal part have a protruding spring tang that will lock the terminal into the header cavity when telescopically inserted fully therein. Such tang type terminals, however, present problems in terms of breakage of the protruding tangs during part handling and other operations in the manufacturing process, as well as during installation and hook-up of circuitry components. This renders their mounting and ultimate electrical connection in the circuitry less than fully reliable and cost effective. In addition the coring required to produce the internal cavity structure for receiving the tang-type female terminal requires a large opening in the header face that receives the terminal blade from the module. This causes insertion problems and misalignment in making the push-in type connections to the header-installed female tang terminals.
On the other hand, tangless female terminals have been provided, but in order to achieve secure retention of the same in a molded plastic header, hitherto the header has had to be made in two pieces with mating half cavities formed in each mating and mutually juxtaposed faces of the two header pieces. With this two-piece construction the tangless terminals can be individually sandwiched between the two header parts and the same locked together by some type of locking structure to thereby retain the tangless female terminal in the header. However, this type of two-piece header construction increases the manufacturing labor costs and also incurs additional manufacturing costs in tracking the two pieces into an assembly of the same as well as requiring additional tooling costs in the molding of the pieces. In addition, the manufacturing of the header in two parts increases the tolerance stack-up associated with the nose piece typically used with a tangless terminal that can lead to misalignment with the mating blades of a module as well as in coupling to the printed circuit board.
Accordingly, among the objects of the present invention are to provide an improved cavity-type header electrical connector adapted for receiving and retaining a tangless female terminal that overcomes one or more of the aforementioned problems.
Another object is to provide an improved one-piece header connector having multiple cavities for individually receiving female connectors that overcomes the problems of two-piece headers and in which the header structure provides easy, snap-in spring tang retention for female terminals individually received in cavities of the header, thereby eliminating the need for providing a spring barb type tang on the female terminal.
Another object is to provide an improved female terminal with an integral solder-tail that protrudes from the header for insertion into a printed circuit board and that is designed for cooperation with the improved aforementioned multiple cavity single piece header connector.
Another object is to provide an improved header connector of the aforementioned type which has an improved insertion entrance way for guiding the male blade of a cooperative module into the interior electrical contact structure of the female terminal as the latter is held captured and reliably and accurately positioned in the header cavity.
As shown in simplified semi-diagrammatic form in FIG. 13-16, the terminal receiving cavity 104 is shown with the female soldertail terminal 118 received therein, fully inserted in assembled condition and locked in place in the cavity 104 by the header cavity spring finger 120. Opening 116 is formed by a retractable side core in the injection molding tooling which cooperates with retractable end coring used to form the main cavity 104. Thus, spring finger 120 is integrally joined at one end 122 to the main body portion of header 100 and projects substantially toward the mating face 102 (FIG 14). Finger 120 is constructed and arranged to spring out to a flexed or retracted position or state 123 and spring back to a free or locked position or state 121 in order to capture the terminal box of each terminal 118 with only about a 0.2-0.5 mm deflection travel range in order to reliably capture the terminal 118 within the cavity 104, 106. Because the deflection of the finger 120 is minimal, the header 100 and finger 120 can be molded of a composite material containing glass fibers or of a glass-filled and reinforced plastic injection molding material (shown in FIG. 14). Side lock arm 120 is deflected outward by the leading edge and side of terminal 118 as it is being inserted telescopically into the cavity 104, 106 during initial assembly thereof into the header 100. The free end 124 of side lock arm 120 thus forms a locking spring tang which cooperates with a locking tab 126 provided on the mutually facing side of terminal 118, as best seen in FIG. 14.
Preferably each female terminal is a progressive die formed and bent box type having parallel top and bottom walls and parallel opposite side walls with internal opposed fixed and spring contacts for cooperating with the associated mating blade of the module. An integral soldertail terminal is formed as an asymmetric extension coplanar with the top wall of the terminal box and protruding from the rear face of the header for insertion into an associated openings in the printed circuit board array. Each terminal has a protruding tang and an associated adjacent space in one of its side walls for receiving the free end of the associated flex lock arm of the header in assembled and locked position. The tab provides an abutment edge for locking engagement with the free end of the flex lock arm. Each terminal also has a fin or keel protruding from its top wall in a direction opposite to the protrusion of the locking tang. The header has blind-end slots for slidably individually receiving the terminal fin and locking tab during telescopic terminal assembly into the associated header cavity. Each header cavity has an entrance way in the header front face, for receiving the mating blade of the module, in the form of a rectangular opening having four beveled edges for guiding insertion of the free end of the blade into the associated terminal captured in the cavity.